By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A 42-year-old driver fatally crashed into a tree soon after running over stop-sticks deployed by police on Stud Road Dandenong, a State coronial inquiry has heard on 3 May.
The Carnegie man’s Nissan SUV was followed by police about eight kilometres after they observed him running a red arrow at the corner of Stud and Ferntree Gully roads about 3.30am on Sunday 24 January 2021.
His SUV hit stop-sticks at the Brady Road intersection, causing the driver-side tyres to deflate.
He continued driving south, losing control as he hit a large undulation on Stud Road near the Liberty service station.
At between 96-122 km/h, his vehicle veered onto a median-strip, hit a gum tree and exploded into flames.
The driver’s loss of control was due to a combination of factors, including his vehicle’s driver-side tyres being deflated by the stop-sticks, counsel assisting Lindsay Spence told the hearing.
Speeding, the driver’s methamphetamine intake, and the undulating road surface were also factors.
Coroner Simon McGregor said his preliminary view was that he couldn’t ascribe with any certainty what was the contribution of each factor.
In isolation, none of the mechanical and road factors would be sufficient to cause the crash, he said.
Mr McGregor indicated that there would be no adverse findings against Victoria Police or Department of Transport.
According to the department, the two large undulations in the 80km/h zone were due to wetlands’ subsidence, the court had heard.
The site had been posted with signs warning of a ‘rough surface’ at the time.
In itself, the car could still be driven with deflated tyres by a driver making minor corrections. Police had observed drivers continuing to travel until their tyre rims disintegrated, the court heard.
Mr McGregor also noted ambiguity in Victoria Police’s pursuit policy. Under the policy, police should not follow a car if they call off a pursuit.
However during deployment of stop-sticks, back-up units were required to follow the car to arrest a driver.
The incident was the only fatality involving stop-sticks between 2016 and 2021, the court heard.
Soon after their initial encounter at Ferntree Gully Road, police units called off a pursuit of the SUV but followed largely at a distance with lights and sirens off.
The first police car arrived about 21 seconds after the crash.
The SUV was driven mainly within the 80 km/h limit but ran a further red light at Wellington Road and then accelerated.
A police supervisor did a comprehensive risk assessment prior to deploying the stop-sticks, Mr Spence told the hearing.
Under police protocols, stop-sticks were justified due to him being wanted for arrest over an intervention order breach in Narre Warren days earlier.
On 16 January 2021, the man had broken into his ex-partner’s house via a bathroom window in Narre Warren.
The woman had told police she was afraid for her life due to the man’s escalating text messages, paranoid behaviour and drug-taking.
At the time, he believed the police were tracking and bugging him. He’d told his mother hours earlier that police were chasing him and he didn’t want to go back to jail.
The hearing continues.
